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So you say you're in the market for a high-end multimedia smartphone, but all the hype surrounding a certain fruity phone has left you unmoved? If so, you may want to check out the Nokia N95, a device that can seemingly handle just about everything short of making you a latte—and while it can't quite do that, it will give you plenty of stuff to do while drinking one.

Physically, there are few similarities between the pricey N95 ($749 MSRP) and that "other" phone. Although it has a relatively small footprint, like many Nokia phones--particularly N-series models—the N95 is a bit of a chunkster, measuring 3.9 x 2.1 x .8 inches). As such, it's a tight or bulky fit in jeans ("Is that a Nokia in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?") Even though it's not the most lithe device out there, at 4.2 ounces, the N95 is actually more than half an ounce lighter than the iPhone. (Top image shows closed N95.)

The quad-band GSM N95 also supports data connections via WCDMA/HSDPA, but only the for the 2100 MHz variety used in Europe —for data transmissions in North America networks, this version of the N95 uses EDGE. (As I wrote this, Nokia introduced a version of N95 that includes support for domestic HSDPA frequencies.) When Edge won't cut it, you can opt for 802.11g/b Wi-Fi.

One of the N95's signature features is its dual-slider front panel. Slide it up, and you get a standard numeric keypad. Slide it down, however, and you're presented with a dedicated set of four media control buttons. (Alas, the N95 doesn't have anything resembling a full alphanumeric keyboard.)


                                        Media controls

The N95 slider's 240 x 320 display is fairly large measuring 2.6 inches diagonally, and it has an adjacent sensor to adjust brightness based on ambient lighting conditions.

Internal flash storage on the N95 is a meager (by music player standards, anyway) 160 MB, but you can boost that by up to 2GB courtesy of a microSD slot that's not buried inside the bowels of the battery compartment, but instead easily accessible via a trapdoor on the left edge of the device. (The phone comes with a 128 MB card.)


           Numeric Keypad

The N95's battery, a BL-5F, not the BL-5C that was recently the subject of a safety recall, is rated for 4 hours of talk time and 225 hours on stand by (in GSM mode).

The N95's uses the S60 third edition user interface, which runs on top of the Symbian OS, and comes with a host of built-in productivity applications, including include QuickOffice for reading Microsoft Office .doc, .xls, and .ppt documents, a mobile version of Adobe's own PDF reader, and a utility for managing ZIP files. Of course there's also an e-mail application and other PIM functions like a calendar, contact list, and note taker.

For Internet browsing, you get Nokia's Web browser with it's mini map feature, which helps you better navigate the vast expanse of a standard Web page by displaying the entire page as a thumbnail, letting you scroll to a particular area more easily.

Multimedia
Although you can access the N95's various multimedia applications using the standard menu, revealing the media control buttons automatically launches the multimedia menu and switches the N95's display into landscape mode.

With its integrated RealPlayer, the N95 can playback RealMedia movies as well as videos in .MP4 and .3GP format. The N95 also supports a host of audio formats including MP3, AAC, and WMA (along with protected WMA files).

The N95's tiny integrated stereo speakers don't provide much depth but do offer surprisingly high volume. The N95 also has a built-in FM radio, but you can only listen to it via wired earphones since they act as the antenna. The earbuds included with the N95 sound great, though they're a bit short at only 24 inches.

On the plus side, they don't plug into the same USB connector used for synching and charging. Rather, the N95 sports a standard 3.5 mm jack, so you can substitute the listening apparatus of your choice. The N95 also supports the A2DP Bluetooth profile for wireless stereo audio.

That same 3.5 mm jack also supports TV out via an included composite video cable. We had to change the default output from PAL to NTSC before the feature would work properly, and display quality is mediocre at best when viewed on a big screen, but it is a handy way to share content with a wider group without having to offload it somewhere first.